Meu Nome é Providence - Caçador de Recompensas

(1972) Sometimes Life is Tough, Eh Providence?/ La vita, a volte, è molto dura, vero Provvidenza?

DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN COMEDY

Some of it's pretentious action bits has similar inspirations to the action packed 1983 film called "Project A Part II" doesn't mean that it's better, such as the big brawl scene in a bar with the two stars chained up. And one of it's characters by the name of "Providence" may also be the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's character Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz of the film "Django Unchained". The set up is Providence (Tomas Milian) is a bounty hunter with an awesome track record, except that he often frees one of the so-called wanted men, just so he can re-capture him again before bringing him to another town to collect it's reward. This whole idea was obviously taken from Sergio Leone's "The Good The Bad And the Ugly". The wanted felon's name is Hurricane Smith (Giulio Petroni) and the movie dwells on this relationship throughout the rest of the movie, as they encounter other "wanted" men.

As someone who saw many Italian westerns theatrically in the late 60s and early 70s, I could feel the genre dying out as there were more spaghetti western comedies released and more films that introduced weirdness for weirdness' sake. SOMETIMES LIFE IS HARD, EH PROVIDENCE is an episodic Italian western comedy, with the amazing chameleon actor Tomas Milian as an eccentric foppish man in a bowler hat, named PROVIDENCE. He has a partner named Hurricane Smith, played by veteran film and TV actor Gregg Palmer. At first, their relationship is reminiscent of Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach in THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY, as they turn each other in for rewards and Milian pulls Palmer behind him on a rope. As the film's picaresque adventures continue, they encounter and attempt to con various other characters, they get put in jail, they escape, they make a lot of money, they lose a lot of money, etc. There are a lot of funny sequences here, and the two stars do a wonderful job and have a great chemistry, but the film was a little too episodic for me and it didn't seem like it was headed anywhere in particular. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood (I saw it first about ten years ago, and just recently watched it again). There was a sequel made a year later with the same stars, but a different director. I'll watch it again sometime soon to see if it's much different from this. Perhaps a nicely transferred DVD widescreen edition could revise my view of this film. Overall, it's recommended to Milian fans and to fans of "mismatched buddy" films (I was reminded, in a strange way, of the Jackie Chan-Owen Wilson films, and the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker films, and of course the Trinity films, although for me the PROVIDENCE films are more interesting and creative than the Trinity films). Director Guilio Petroni had previously worked with Milian on the underrated BLOOD AND GUNS (released in the US on VHS and probably easy to find), and of course is best known for the great DEATH RIDES A HORSE, also widely available on VHS. Also worth mentioning are the Three Stooges-style slapstick sound effects and an over-the-top score by Ennio Morricone with what sounds like a children's chorus singing odes to "Provvidenza". SOMETIMES LIFE IS HARD, EH PROVIDENCE certainly has a lot of odd and interesting elements in it, thrown together into a unique mix. While I may sound somewhat critical of it, it's a hard film to dislike.

This is an unusual, quirky comedy western, with Tomas Milian playing an eccentric bounty hunter called Providence. There's a sometimes uneasy alliance with him and a petty criminal, played by Gregg Palmer. Certainly not a usual Eurowestern, as there's almost no gunplay at all. Entertaining enough, but very different from the films made by Leone, Corbucci, Sollima, et al. Certainly worth a look.

Weird, rat-like bounty hunter Tomas Milian repeatedly captures grungy outlaw Gregg Palmer, only to quietly help him escape jail, so he can re- capture him and claim the reward all over again. Along the way, they encounter various characters like scheming showgirl Janet Agren, pool hustlers, a crooked sheriff, and a rowdy group of drunken Confederates.

Like a live-action cartoon, only dumber, this very broad western comedy is only occasionally funny. Most of the jokes fall completely flat. With the exception of a good saloon brawl, the action doesn't fare much better.

In a career full of eccentric performances by Tomas Milian, this may be the oddest of the lot, except maybe his role in Sergio Corbucci's The White, The Yellow And The Black, where he (offensively) portrays a comedic Samurai warrior!

Also, this has a terrible score by Ennio Morricone, probably his worst in a western.

It is fair to say that Tomas Milan is one of the all time great Spaghetti Western stars (grasping frantically at the poncho of Eastwood, Cleef and Nero). And it is in such good faith that I got my hands on a copy of this movie.

And after watching it, it is fair to say that you could call me confused! Sometimes shockingly bad, othertimes really great fun, I couldn't make up my mind whether it had been 90 minutes well spent or an evening wasted. I think I'll opt for well spent. Just.

Certainly, it is not your average spaghetti western, with Milan a Charlie Chaplin-esq bounty hunter, with a bungling "chunky" sidekick. The character play is a passenger on the Trinity bandwagon, but with an even greater level of stupidity. The Big Gundown it certainly isn't! Nor is it in any way reminiscent of Director Petroni's classic Death Rides a Horse.

The story is not so much one story, as a number of episodes with a very loose link. Thankfully, the strong cast pulls it off, and although I nearly pressed eject several times I did see it through to the end. And was it worth it? Hmmmmm, I just can't seem to make up my mind. But I bet I watch the sequel!